Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a thin film metallic glass. More particularly, the present invention relates to a thin film metallic glass for coating.
Description of Related Art
Metal, ceramic and polymer materials are widely used in our daily life. The implementation of metallic materials occupies the highest percentage. In comparison with polymer or composite materials, metallic materials have better physical resistance. Furthermore, metallic materials have longer researching history, and therefore the technique of associated fields is more mature and well developed. They can be found everywhere in a variety of products.
Common metallic material, for example, nano titanium aluminium nitride film, which shows high hardness, is used to improve the wear resistance of a product. Silicon titanium film is used to enhance the thermal stability of product at high temperature. Nano silicon titanium aluminium helium film is applied to increase anti-oxidation temperature. However, conventional metallic materials are mostly crystalline with limited malleability and therefore fail to satisfy product requirement in certain industry. For example, in terms of medical needle and industrial dispensing tip, the frequency of contacting is high.
Industrial dispensing tip can be found in many applications. Although the size of tip and glue material may be different, the difficulties encountered are usually related to the residue glue on the tip surface, leading to process interruption for clearance.
Lubricant is used on medical needle to reduce the friction between skin and the needle. However, in aesthetic or plastic surgery, the needle may be repeatedly used to tens or hundreds of times. After the heavy use, the friction between needle and skin may increase because lubricant dries out. The needle head will be blunt along the time course, such that the pain will be more pronounced to the recipient. The entire process may be affected accordingly.
Stitching needle, injection needle or aesthetic needle is disposable medical appliance. However, take stitching needle for example. Clinically, when using stitching needle to handle the wound, the duration and area may be long and broad, such that the needle head may become blunt, causing difficulty in operation. When it comes to injection needle, it is used for multiple times a day, for example, insulin injection taking 4-6 times a day. According to some researches, in the second attempt to use the same injection needle for insulin injection, the needle has been blunted. At the sixth attempt in injection, it is clear that the needle head has deformed.
Conventional needle head protection is achieved by using silicon nitride hard coating (SiNx) with a thickness of about 500 nm. However, in order to improve the adhesion of the ceramic hard coating, another silicon oxynitride (SiNxOy) layer, which is approximately 500 nm in thickness, is introduced between the silicon nitride hard coating and the stainless steel. Although the coefficient of friction can be reduced and so as the friction resistance, the overall thickness can reach to 1000 nm, and the wound can be too large to recover.
Unlike the abovementioned metallic coating, thin film metallic glass exhibits random atomic arrangement and therefore exhibiting unique properties. For example, thin film metallic glass exhibits high hardness, superior fatigue resistance, low surface roughness, good wear resistance, and anti-bacterial properties. Thus, thin film metallic glass shows great potential in medical application.